Many conventional integrated circuits have their devices organized into different dies that are separated on the semiconductor chip face. The transmission lines running between these dies are sufficiently long that large power sources are required to drive them because of power dissipation.
Commonly, die-to-die signal transmission is achieved by using simple inverters constructed using CMOS architecture. The input signal is inverted by an inverter signal transistor pair in the first die, the inverted transmitted, and then the signal is reinverted at the second die by a second inverter circuit. Each transistor inverted pair have their current paths connected between V.sub.dd and V.sub.ss, with their current paths joined in series.
Conventional signal transmission circuits of this type are susceptible to current spikes appearing on the power supply line. A large current spike makes a large di/dt noise, which can cause mistransmission of the data and a consequent degradation of the system performance. A need has therefore arisen for a signal transmission circuit that insulates the transmission line from the effects of the power supply current spikes.